SIX HUNDRED WATT GRAPHICS

New ATX standard clears the way for nextgeneration GPUs

TOP-FLIGHT GRAPHICS cards are notoriously power-hungry. The next generation of Nvidia RTX 4000 cards will continue this trend, and rumor has it that the AD102 GPU will debut with 450W and 600W versions, but talk of an 850W version is wild (think of the cooling that would need). AMD’s next generation of cards, due later this year, is based on RDNA 3 silicon. Power requirements are expected to be less dramatic, but at 450-480W, not exactly parsimonious either.

To feed these cards, Intel has its new ATX 3.0 power supply specification, which was finalized in February. It’s the first big change to the ATX standard since version 2.3 in 2007, which removed the 20A limit on the 12V rails. Expect it to be adopted quickly, cards have already outgrown the previous standard that offered a maximum of 300W to a PCIe card (75W via the slot, 75W with a 6-pin, and 150W via an 8-pin connector). Top cards have already broken the limit by using connectors or adapters.

ATX 3.0 aims to fix this with a new 16pin 12VHPWR (12V high power) connector for PCIe 5.0 cards. It has 12 power pins, and four ancillary pins for signaling, these enable the graphics card and PSU to configure the power requirements. It can deliver 150, 300, 450, or 600W of power, assuming the PSU can reach such levels. The connector is required on all PSUs of over 450W, and the specs also require that the connector is labeled with the maximum power rating.

Any graphics cards unable to employ the signaling pins will be limited to 150W by default—from now, the PSU will set the power limit. If you’re planning to upgrade to a next-gen graphics card, you may have to budget for an ATX 3.0 PSU too.